It is not about finding, it is about creating!

First things first, take the title of the post with a pinch of salt. I have never been very good at making or sticking to New Year’s resolutions, although to be honest, I don’t think many of us are. Take the typical examples of eating healthier and going to the gym, these might actually be beneficial if we all stuck to them (and not just for January!) but for me these are things I really don’t think I would enjoy. I can count on my fingers the amount of times I’ve entered a gym in my lifetime! I want my resolutions to be more about what I enjoy and what makes me happy and then maybe, just maybe, we can tackle the gym thing after that! I don’t really want to think of the following list as things that I will definitely stick to, rather that they are just sort of things I want to try and do in 2017. I have always loved reading ever since I was little. I would sit and read for hours on end in my own world reading book after book. Although I do read a lot for my course, the books I have to read for my degree are not really what I want to relax with before bed! Recently I’ve become a person who just buys and hoards books with every intention of reading them, I just never get around to it. I have so many unread books, so hopefully 2017 will be the year that I finally read them all.

Most of us start this time of year picking New Year resolutions. For me, they are the usual suspects. Get healthier. Lose those 20 pounds I’ve been trying to lose since last ten years. Become a better person. The latter usually entails becoming more patient, loving, and forgiving in my relationships – including with other drivers on the road. Each year, I carefully set action plans to meet these goals. Yet, most of my goals lose steam around mid-February and it’s back to business as usual – Parathas and Pizzas.

With some therapy, I have even found some humor at the irony of being an Fit Individual and not being able to meet my own goals.

Here’s what I’m doing differently this year. It is from Marshall Goldsmith’s best-selling book called Triggers. The executive coach pays someone to call him every morning and ask him 32 questions that help him to be accountable to be the person he wants to be. I decided to give myself the challenge of asking myself six accountability questions every morning.

Ask yourself six questions every day to create good habits to meet your New Year resolutions. Success on the most important goals we set for ourselves involve the long game – practices that we practice every day until they become habits, and eventually part of our very identity, so we can create lasting change.

Six questions i recommend for all leaders. My recommendation is to start with these questions. The focus is to hold yourself accountable to doing your best. Did I do my best to?

Set clear goals?

Make progress for achieving my goals?

Find meaning?

Be happy?

Build positive relationships?

Be fully engaged?

As Individuals the greatest challenge is getting started. We often miss the bus at the first step. Tomorrow seems to be the favorite word and often this procrastination is the major hurdle in successfully attaining the resolutions made by us.

A new year is expected to bring in fresh ideas, fresh thoughts and a new zest to life but for all this to happen one needs to get up and “get started”. I feel accountability is the major step and if we make ourselves responsible the resolutions will never fizz out and in fact will motivate us to perform better and make ourselves a renewed Individual.

Let’s all take our resolutions this year to a greater dimension and in turn make changes in our lifetime which shall have a larger impact on our lives.

Why should you stop making a HUGE list of goals you need to achieve by the end of a new year.

Because they NEVER work! Just look at the image below… Is it only me or does that happen to the most of you? There are a lot of special snowflakes out there (who I envy) that could put 10-15 resolutions on their list and manage to complete ALL of it at the end of the year. How AWESOME is that? Good for you guys *sarcasm intensifies*

NEW YEAR, OLD YOU

Yes, you read that right! Everyday is a new day, but you’re not going to be any different. If you want to change the way you think, your attitude, improve your G.K., or/ and get fit, you have to be committed. Change requires you to be patient or else you won’t able to achieve what you want to!

Here are a few tips that might help you with that list of yours:

1. If you want to take part in events and be involved in something huge, then join your college’s ROTARACT CLUB

Believe it when you read it- Rotaract is AMAZING!

Rotaract changed my life. Before joining, everything was as dull as it could get. As soon as college used to get over, I went home and went to sleep. I didn’t want my life to be THIS boring!!! This club opens a lot of doors for you. You’ll get to meet a lot of people, take part in events that are taking place in your college as well as in your district and you will have a lot of fun.

2. If you want to stay fit, try …

Squats and planks! I wouldn’t recommend getting a gym membership now, because if you’re the lazy type, I’m pretty sure you won’t go after a month. First, try doing 20 squats (1set) and 30s plank for a week. Once you’re used to it, try more sets. Squats will shape your legs and plank will help that tummy go in. And for those arms? Try lifting a heavy book everyday! And once you’re regular, invest in a gym.

And try your best to not eat JUNK food!!

3. Try developing a hobby

Take a guitar class or a calligraphy class. Watch youtube videos on calligraphy for beginners. If you want to learn how to code or animate, go to khan academy.com and learn. You can a lot of stuff for free on the net. Let’s make the most of what we have.

4. Want to be more socially aware and change your perspective?

Download BBc on your phone and get updated. If you’re interested I giving the upsc exams, try Gktoday. This is an amazing site that helped me in my semester exams. As for the perspective part, try going through a lot of philosophy articles and form your own opinions. It has worked like a charm for me, might work for you too.5. Keep your list as small as possible and work towards it.

You are excited and you want to make the most of this year. But it’s important to keep your list small so that you can give more committed to your resolutions and your everyday activities.

I hope this article has helped you. Best of luck and Happy New year!
-Rtr. Rheangeline Pinto
Rotaract Club of Wilson College

Just like an anchor fixes a ship in one spot and prevents it from straying away, in the same way one needs to introspect what is that, that keeps you anchored to your target and not drift from it. My anchor is that feeling of love, gratitude and countless many more feelings for that one lady, for that one gem of a person. It is from this omnipresence equivalent human being, that I learnt the right way to live life and face challenges with boldness. It is this dynamic and fabulous personality who showed me and proved to me the power of optimism who changed my life in two years. This miraculous yet grounded representative of good will has transformed me from a childish, idiotic yet pure 15 to a mature, wise and purer 17! This person is my guru my mentor, my teacher and the best person to share my troubles with Ms Nisha Kothari, who was my teacher for my HSSC.

Being a professor in a college as renowned as VNIT, she was the first to start an institute for preparation of entrance exams for engineering. 16 years back in a small city like Nagpur where was no awareness about IITs and other renowned colleges across the country, this lady with a vision in her eyes and a mission to achieve, started an institute first of its kind. Being a lady, she surely faced immense problems and criticism from the world which believes in male chauvinism. Not just beginning her own start up but taking it to new standards and improving and evolving at each new phase of life is what she has made her institute go through.

She is a lady who works selflessly day and night for her students and leaves no stone unturned for providing them with the best facilities and the perfect guidance each time her students need it. She is not just a teacher who has taught me physics, chemistry and maths but also is that guru who taught me HOW TO LIVE LIFE! She opened a complete a new chapter into my book of life and filled my mind with thoughts no person however rich or intellectual can own and my heart with values no saint can be imbibed of! Her bright smile right in the morning as she used to enter the class irrespective of all kinds of thoughts causing stress, she weathered each storm which came her way and is still doing that. There are ample of other coaching classes which are mere market centres who are at any moment hungry for duping away a parent’s money in the name teaching it is not only a blemish for a profession as pure as teaching but also a shameful act on the part of mankind. But she has struggled to carve some of the best diamonds out of her students selflessly without any greed for money. We have laughed with her learnt from her and evolved from what we were when we entered this institute. I still recall all that she taught us apart from our subjects. “ Yesterday is gone, today is yours!” “WISH, WILL AND WORK FOR 86400 SECONDS” Those echoes in the class….. “WHO AM I?????? I AM A CHAMPION”. She has endowed upon me the best of her blessings, wishes and utmost precious teachings. She is the wisest person I have ever met and beacon-light for thousands of students. She has given me the ultimate key to success which is humble perseverance with a pinch of optimism. She has bestowed upon me only unconditional, unbiased love and faith irrespective of my numerous shortcomings and failures. She is the person whom I love whole-heartedly with infinite purity and blind yet wakeful faith on her, my dear mentor and guru, NISHA MA’AM.

Now go out and do it! In other words, what is it that sets your soul on fire and makes you work like there is no tomorrow. There aren’t a lot of things which warrant that level of dedication, you know that in your heart. No matter who you are and no matter how may gifts you are endowed with, there is always that one thing you are willing to get up at 4 am for. That, has been my inspiration till date. It can be something as simple as organizing a college fest. It makes you want to give your 100% even if it means that you need to undertake classic how’s-it-going-to-help-you fights with your parents.

I remember I was in 9th grade when I saw my first comedy sketch on YouTube. After that, there was no stopping me. I saw every sketch from that particular channel. Imagine me with unkempt hair and nails rummaging through the internet like a cocaine addict with an agitated expression trying to find that one video which would give my brain the high to last through another day.

That was quite an exaggeration wasn’t it? Well it had become something like that. It hasn’t gotten any better since that day and with time I have managed to control my bouts (read in a ‘Mera naam Mukesh hain’ tone) and reduced it to four comedy sketches a day. That’s normal right?

In my 12th grade we had one of those competitions in school where the famous students in the class took a backseat and class dorks like us would get a chance to shine through our nerdy skills and bag the title of Miss and Mister Best student of the year. That was the first time I performed a stand up act in front of a handful of 10 students. And I can assure you that all my friends who I had asked (read threatened) to laugh had laughed enough for my sake (here it is imperative for me to mention that there was that one student who did not even smirk). I won the second prize. Maybe it was during that time that I was slowly turning to the world I had always aspired to be a part of.

So comedy became my biggest inspiration and I tried to make it a part of my life therein.

I draw most of my inspiration from Tina fey, a writer and comedian whose book Bossy pants made me fall in love with her. An extremely relatable personality, her writing is not only hilarious but also genius. I aspire to work the way she does one day. However I would be lying if I said that she is my only inspiration in life. It’s funny how inspirations in fields like these change every time you come across someone who tops the genius of the previous one.

Comedy Central and SNL (Saturday Night Live) have changed the way I view comedy and expanded my horizons on the same. The pure brilliance of the actors on SNL inspires me, the ability of the writers to churn material after material each week to make their eager audiences laugh inspires me, the really well made advertisement I see on the television inspires me. Pure creativity inspires me. That last line would be my third inspiration in this article; I hope you are keeping up!

In order to stop myself from discovering million other inspirations in life, I would like to end my article here. Apart from Tina fey people like Amy Poehler, Kate McKinnon, Andy Samberg, Amy Schumer, Sumukhi Suresh are other comedy giants who are leaving a giant footprint in the funny business with their excellent work and the ability to make their audiences laugh their worries off. Consider them your therapists. Apart from them, story tellers like ‘The Viral Fever’ who brought in a new wave of writing with some excellent web series too inspire me to read my articles ten times over. I worship them and hope to achieve the heights they have achieved with their work and be able to make millions laugh and appreciate comedy and writing like never before.

Not every cricketer scores a century, nor does every human live a century. Who do, are Centenarians. My is An Inspiring Centenarian, a Rotarian, A Businessman, A Warm Hearted Person, A Revolutionary, A Traveller, A Wanderer, A Sun Shine, A Dreamer, A Hard Worker and above all An Inspiration.

Such a man would only be called Rtn. Ramgopal Mehra. A charter member of my parent Rotary, Rotary Club of Bombay Mid-Town. Not everybody knows his story, or him. Yet, they speak of him when it comes to the dedication towards his works and his grin.

Amritsar was the city, which heard him cry in September 1916. Speak to him about his childhood and his statement would be the same for all, “Children in that era were very revolutionary and so was I, a volunteer in Uniform.” As a kid, yet a revolutionary one, he had attended meetings at Jallianwala Bagh and has met personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and many more during that era.

A dreamer in him always lied in him to complete his ambition of becoming a successful businessman and this dreamer flew to Japan to achieve his ambition. He started working in a textile company with a stipend of Rs. 80 per month, which was a very big amount at that time.

He came back to India to settle in Mumbai after 6 years and got arrested by the British under interrogations about the freedom struggle in India. They transferred him to Lahore in the initial time frame, then China and then to South Africa. At every place, he faced torture and pain, yet, didn’t leave the path of truth. At the end he came back to Bombay then, in 1942 and married his lady to start his Marriage life in 1942.

Not everyone in India has a passport issued by the British Government, not someone who is alive in today’s time; exception is my Centenarian Hero. He holds his First Passport of the British era with pride and a big smile. Ever since his first passport, he has travelled to 104 countries with more than 15 other new passports issued to him after exhaustion of pages.

He helped in chartering one of the initial Rotary Clubs in Mumbai and has been an active member ever since 1968. His motto in life has always been ‘Work’ and his work towards his business or his work towards the Community Service through Rotary has always been soaring.

His work, his life, his smile, his wisdom, his strength, his passion, his love towards Rotary, his view towards Life, his lifestyle, his Work in his lifetime, are the things I admire the most in him and they inspire myself to become hardworking like him.

That’s what my inspirer is like, A dreamer who accomplished his dreams; a true man who lived his life with truth and feared no one; a traveller who travelled not just for the sake of it but, for the craze of it and work as well.

Every road needs a milestone, and we humans need inspirations in our lives. I owe Rotary Club of Bombay Mid-Town the credit for making me meet my Inspiring Centenarian, for which I shall never forget the time speaking to him about his Century.

MAGIC. The word itself invokes so many thoughts and desires in a person. They can be positive, they can be negative. But it does generate some kind of response like a stimulus. Magic is defined as the power of apparently influencing events by using mysterious or supernatural forces.

Well, I believe in magic. I believe we all make our own magic by the power of our thoughts and the way we think of a particular situation, our goals, our dreams and our visions for the future. I believe that when we set our sight on goals that seem bigger than we ever imagined, we have set ourselves for a course filled with magic and amazement. We choose to make magic in our life. We choose to have hope and faith for good things to come. We choose to believe that every situation we face is meant to give us valuable lessons and help us excel in life, thus letting the MAGIC happen. I love the part of the quote that says “watch with glittering eyes” because it’s hope that brings that glitter in a person’s eyes. When we see ourselves as lucky and blessed, we find ourselves noticing our surroundings more. We notice people and situations in our path as we long for those lucky encounters to take place – and so they do.

Do you believe in Magic?

We live on a planet that circles around a ball of fire next to a moon that moves the sea, and you say you don’t believe in magic?

A person with a practical view to life may look for reasonable reasoning to every circumstance, but when you go through certain things in your past that teach and shape you into the person that you are today, it’s that pain, that suffering that makes you take choices to reach where you are currently. It’s alright to be sad; as Khalil Gibran said, “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”You will never understand the importance of being happy and being loved if you haven’t been open enough to experience and feel pain.

Cause in the end, we all need darkness to see the stars and the moon.

Magic in the end boils down to the belief that in the present is where there’s beauty and in happiness is actual magic! You don’t need happy endings to be happy, you can be happy in the present as well by just being grateful for what you have. Good things automatically will happen to those who are patient.

We live in a planet which revolves around ball of fire. A moon which controls our seas. If this isn’t magic, then what is?

We keep thinking about our past or keep planning for our future. We miss the “Present” due to this constant overthinking. Even if there was a God, and he wanted to help us. He wouldn’t be able to catch hold of us.

A Miracle is Magic. Finding lost items, Meeting people out of the blue are all examples of Magic I you believe in it.

In this age and time, we don’t get time to think about our day and what small miracles happened. We need to calm down a bit. Believe in Magic and think about it for a minute.

We need to appreciate the smaller things in life which make us happy. That is God’s Magic. It’s his magic trick. If we don’t believe in these small things and appreciate them, then life will lose meaning.

A stranger bringing a smile to your face is Magic. Think about them a bit. Believe in them.

Engage in the moment. Don’t worry about the problems when you’re having a good time. Live in the present and believe in Miracles and Magic all around you.

It is all around us. We just need to stop for a moment. Remove time from our busy lives. Believe in it and surely we’ll find that Life is full of Magic and Miracles.

Have you been a fan of Fairytales? Ever believed in them? Ever thought that someday when your Footwear breaks, you’d have a visit to the Palace and be the lucky one to dance with the Charming Prince and not go to the Cobbler hopping around?

Ever thought that achieving something wasn’t so tough in Life and that only drawing it on a notepad with a Pencil could get it for you? If you have, I am sure you already have a lot of Pages with weirdest of Drawings about Chocolates and Cars and even Dinosaurs for a matter of fact.

Life is a running warfare. You have a battle to fight every day. We always wake up with the desire to have a good day and by the time you are scrubbing hard in the washroom, you are already in that zone where you have imagined yourself to be Alexander, The Great. Absolutely charged up to conquer the day. By the end of the day, you are just too tired to do anything. Probably praying for some magic to happen and hoping that your Boss would just ring you up and ask you to rest at Home.

Wanting for a 6 month vacation twice a Year isn’t too much to ask for, right? We all want it.

We all know that’s not happening ever. We still want it. And trust me, there is no harm in wanting something. All that you ought to do is be positive and you shall get what you want. “Thoda sa Dil and Thodi si Will” is all that is ever required. Even that one day well spent with your Family or Beloved or Friends is no less than that long Vacation.

Wanting a Promotion? Wanting to be a World Champion? Wanting to be an All India Ranker in an Exam? YOU WILL DO IT. More like YOU CAN DO IT.

All you need to do is Believe in it. Live every moment of it. Put in your hard work and efforts. Strive to Achieve it. And be rest assured that you are going to achieve it.

Those who don’t Believe, don’t Achieve. Know what is the Biggest Magic in life? YOU yourself. Believe in yourself and you’re bound to soar horizons in Life.